


Touch of Your Skin

by SecretEnigma



Series: Lunoct Week [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Don't copy to another site, F/M, Inspired by Kimi no Na wa. | Your Name., Lunoct Week 2020, Meet-Cute, Romance, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmate Shenanigans, loosely
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:27:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26589604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SecretEnigma/pseuds/SecretEnigma
Summary: For Lunoct Week 2020. Prompts used: Soulmate AU/Peacetime-No War AUNoctis is both excited and nervous to meet his soulmate, even if there's always an element of danger when royalty experience the Swap, and Lunafreya makes the minor error of assuming she won't be meeting hers this solstice. This causes something of a problem.Though really, Ravus should have known better than to storm in with a sword on his hip.
Relationships: Lunafreya Nox Fleuret/Noctis Lucis Caelum
Series: Lunoct Week [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1934224
Comments: 26
Kudos: 127
Collections: Lunoct Week 2020





	Touch of Your Skin

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I have no idea what I'm doing. But Lunoct week sounded fun and I loved some of the prompts so...... I thought I'd give it a shot!
> 
> This is VERY loosely inspired by the movie Your Name, mostly because I thought it would be hilarious if soulmates met by body-swapping. The general rules for this AU are:
> 
> -The Swap only happens on the Summer Solstice and the Winter Solstice
> 
> -The Swaps stop once the soulmates meet and make physical contact with each other (ie, shaking hands).
> 
> -The Swaps only start when the youngest member turns 15.

Noctis’s first solstice was the winter one. He hadn’t turned fifteen in time for the summer one —the fun one—, but now the winter one was tomorrow and he was a bundle of nerves. Gladiolus had laughed at him outright, but Noctis could remember Gladiolus’s first solstice, the other teen had been **just** as much of a mess.

The Swap was a big deal after all. The first look at your soulmate’s life and identity. There were a hundred things that could go right and a **million** things that could go wrong, especially when you were the **Prince of Lucis**. Noctis’s dad was going a little crazy from it too, because he’d always been a bit overprotective even since the car accident when he was eight, and all of Citadel’s security and all of the Kingsglaive in the world meant nothing when Noctis’s soul wasn’t even going to **be there** for them to guard. As soon as the clock ticked over to the solstice date, one minute after midnight, Noctis was going to mentally swap places with his soulmate for the rest of the day or until they met up in person, and who knew **where** he’d wake up.

Hopefully somewhere in Insomnia, or at least Lucis. Accordo might be interesting, if tricky to arrange an in-person meeting with his soulmate afterwards because of passports and distance, but there was always the cruel chance that his soulmate was in Niflheim and that … could be a **problem**. The war had been over since before Noctis was born, but that didn’t mean some people in the former empire didn’t still hold a bit of a grudge against the Lucian royal line for their part in the whole “no longer an empire” thing.

Honestly, Noctis was hoping for Galahd. The Galahdians that made up part of the Kingsglaive —his dad’s “exploration and conservation force” that everyone knew were really made up of volunteers keeping an eye on the borders for trouble with the former empire— were always a blast to hang out with. He wouldn’t mind having a soulmate from one of the Clans, especially the Ulrics. Nyx was a riot, and a natural with magic, having him for an in-law would be awesome.

But Noctis had no idea if he’d get that lucky. No one knew who their soulmate was until the youngest member of the pair turned fifteen and went through their first Swap. It was a complete roulette wheel on where he’d wake up tomorrow, what his soulmate would be like, **anything**. He could wake up on a Hunter’s Haven, or in an alley, or in a **hospital** , and he couldn’t do a thing about it to prepare other than stuff as many things he could think of as being useful in his armiger and praying.

He didn’t do that second one very much considering it was the Astrals that picked this method for humans finding their soulmates after Solheim’s Fall. Because apparently Bahamut had been feeling very petty after the War of the Astrals and decided the **much** more convenient method of having their soulmate’s name written on their wrist was just not sucky enough for the survivors of Solheim. Or so the legends said.

He heard Ignis step into the room and sigh, “Noct. Staying up will not help anything. All you’ll do is exhaust your body and make it uncomfortable for your soulmate.”

Noctis obediently flopped on the couch with a groan, “I’m **nervous**.”

Ignis leaned over the back of the couch to pat his shoulder while Nyx, who had followed Ignis in, snickered loudly. Ignis shot Nyx a look, then turned back to Noctis, “You’ll be fine. You have armiger, you have your training, and your body will be well guarded while you’re gone.”

“But what if-.”

“ **Noct**. Go to bed. I will drug your tea if I have to.”

Noctis growled and hauled himself off the couch, wincing at the twinge in his back —stupid car shrapnel, stupid Behemoth that had decided to charge the car Noctis’s kid self had been inside in the first place—, “Fine.”

“Don’t worry, Princeling,” Nyx called after him, “I’ll make sure your soulmate has a warm welcome.”

Noctis called over his shoulder without looking, “You flirt with my soulmate and I’ll tell Aranea.” He paused, “Check that, I’ll tell **Biggs and Wedge**.”

“Hey-!”

Ignis’s voice was frosty, “ **Boys**.”

Noctis shut the door to his room and flopped on the covers, not in the mood to properly climb under them. He lay on his back and listened to the clock tick away, closer and closer to midnight, closer and closer to the time he … would …

He didn’t realize he’d fallen asleep until he was dragged back to wakefulness by the world’s most irritating alarm clock. It was one of those ones that played a single soundbite of a song, ensuring that one piece would be stuck in your head the rest of the day. Noctis groaned after an actual eternity of being too tired to care about the dumb thing and reached out blindly to slap at his alarm, because **no**. After several seconds of groping at thin air without managing to find his nightstand, Noctis raised his head from the pillow and squinted. His nightstand wasn’t there. He stared, trying to figure out where it had gone. It had legs, but surely it hadn’t **walked** off, and since when was his bedroom wall covered in blue floral wallpaper?

Wait.

Realization slammed and he sat up with a gasp. He immediately overbalanced, pitched to the side, and fell out of the unfamiliar bed with a yelp that was decidedly higher pitched than his own voice. _Ow._ He squinted at the ceiling, trying to shake off the last of his brain fog. Despite the excitement, he almost wanted to conk back out right there on the floor. He felt the most relaxed he had in **ages** , like that time Ignis accidentally gave him a teeny bit too much of his pain meds when Noctis was younger, and everything had gone pleasantly … painless.

Painless.

_Holy Six, I’m not in pain._ He’d never particularly considered himself **in** pain save for days when a weather front was rolling in or when Gladio and him got too intense during training and he triggered his back and hip, but **this**. This was different. Noctis felt like he could **float** right there on the floor, all the aches and pains he’d gotten used to over the years and ignored suddenly **gone** and whoo boy was this was normal people felt like all the time? No wonder Gladiolus could keep on trucking during a hike like a tanky energizer bunny.

Pushing aside that heady revelation, Noctis decided it would probably make a bad impression if he just- left his soulmate’s body sprawled all over the floor, **and** he was really curious to know where he was now, so he levered himself off the floor, turned off the alarm clock, and aimed for the nearest window. Flicking open the curtains and squinting past the morning sunlight, he grinned a moment later, “Insomnia, **yes**.” He flinched at the voice he’d just used, because it was definitely not his and that was creepy as all get out, then shook his head and focused. He was in Insomnia. One of the **nice** areas too. Pretty far from both the Citadel and downtown. This looked like one of the areas nobles put their fancy estates. Lots of green grass and trees in the summer, but with the skyline of Insomnia proper still looming on one side, and no doubt the faint view of Insomnia’s towering stone wall rising up on the other.

Okay. So his soulmate was apparently either old money in Insomnia, one of the foreign nobles that was rich enough to buy an estate here, or someone just lucky enough to live here. Maybe a servant.

…If his soulmate turned out to be Lady Lobelia, he was literally going to throw himself out this window without warping to safety.

He turned around, noting that this was definitely not the room of a servant, then spotted a full length mirror in one corner. He approached it carefully, taking his time to acclimate to his soulmate’s different stride and sense of balance. He stopped in front of the mirror and … gaped. “Wow,” he whispered, “Okay.”

His soulmate was **beautiful**. Big blue eyes that were paler than his, pale gold hair that was down to her elbows and only a **bit** of a flyaway bedhead. She looked … tall? She felt tall at least, slender arms and long legs, dressed in silk pajamas with happy little Carbuncles on them. “Hi,” he said dumbly to the reflection, rolling the sound of her voice over his tongue for a minute and deciding it was very pretty. Gentle, alto. He shook his head to focus, “Okay. So. Game plan.” He was in Insomnia, in an area he roughly knew too, so all he had to do was … find a phone and call Ignis. Let him know where he was.

He should probably look around to find her Soulmate Note too, he’d need a name and address so Ignis knew where to pick him up-.

The door banged open behind him, he caught a glimpse of a very tall, **very** imposing and unhappy man who was dressed in foreign whites and violets and was wearing a **sword** that he looked like he could definitely use and immediately blind warped right out the window on instinct. The man yelled in shock and **fury** , rushing to the window with his sword now in his **hand** and Noctis had no idea who his soulmate was that she apparently attracted a very grouchy and unsubtle assassin coming after her, but he wasn’t waiting to find out.

Three more weaponless warps across the snowy ground —cold, cold, **cold** he hadn’t had time to put on any **shoes** or clothes other than his soulmate’s pajamas—, a fourth warp to the spear he’d just chucked over the estate wall, and Noctis was **gone**.

* * *

Luna woke up far earlier than she intended to because of the pain. It was a throbbing ache all down the small of her back and one hip and leg down to her knee, like she’d fallen on it wrong, or gotten kicked by a chocobo, and she woke up with a muffled gasp. It took a long moment of staring fuzzily at the ceiling, trying to breathe past the gnawing **pain** that ground against her nerves while an unending ache vibrated down her leg to realize that she was most definitely not in her room in her family’s Insomnia estate. Oh. Oh dear.

Today was the winter solstice. Her soulmate must have finally turned fifteen.

The one time she neglected to make preparations just in case too. She’d been exhausted from the trip over and she’d thought “really, what are the chances” and had simply gone to bed without leaving out her Soulmate Note **or** reminding Ravus of the date so he would know to make security preparations —Ravus was already terrible with dates that weren’t important meetings, and he’d been tired too from the journey, he would never remember and Cindy wasn’t around to remind him this time—. Apparently the chances were very high, because here she was, and apparently her soulmate had gotten himself hurt.

She reached for her magic, sighed in relief as she sent it out and down into the aching muscles of her soulmate’s body. A moment of internal inspection and she realized this was an old injury, too old to fully repair —a childhood accident perhaps?—. But at least she could ease it enough to function, and once the ache had gone from breath stealing to just uncomfortable, she tentatively sat up and looked around. A nobleman’s room, clearly. Spacious and rich, done up in Lucian blacks and silvers. A tentative glance down at her soulmate’s body showed that he was, thankfully, dressed. Though she suspected that would be the case, considering he had no doubt been far more aware of the date than her. She flexed her soulmate’s fingers experimentally, squinting in the early morning sunlight to examine the callouses on his fingers. Sword callouses. Someone trained in weaponry then. Not unexpected for Lucian nobility, but also not a blanket requirement. He either enjoyed the activity despite his pain or he was someone important enough to have to worry about self defense even with bodyguards.

…One of which was in the room with her, patiently watching her acclimate to her soulmate’s body. She looked up and murmured, “Hello.” She faltered a moment, because hearing **her** intended words come out in a male’s soft tenor as very strange, then pushed on, “I presume you are my soulmate’s bodyguard?”

The bodyguard reached out and turned on a lamp, revealing calm —sharp, friendly but wary— blue eyes and black hair and a uniform of black and silver and purple scarves, “One of them. You alright? You looked like you were having trouble adjusting for a few minutes there.”

In the better light of the lamp, Luna looked down at her soulmate’s body again, noting his caucasian skin and tentatively pressing her borrowed fingers against the still-aching hip, “I … yes. I believe so. I just was not expecting to wake up in pain.”

The calm look gave way to open concern and the guard stood up, “Pain? He’s in pain?”

“Yes. Mostly in his lower back and this hip, as well as the leg down to the knee.” She saw the concern give way to a frown of unhappy realization, his shoulders relaxing a bit despite his displeasure and she nodded to herself, “I see. So it **is** an old injury. I had thought so.”

“Yeah. He’s had it since he was a kid. He says it doesn’t hurt anymore except on bad days.”

Luna shrugged and shifted to sit on the edge of the bed —she hadn’t been under the covers, perhaps her soulmate had been too excited to sleep until the last minute?—, “If he has had this for many years, I doubt he is even aware he’s in pain anymore. The mind can only acknowledge an unending problem for so long before it starts to ignore it.”

The guard surprised her with a snort of muffled laughter as he tapped his earpiece a few times —a code no doubt—, “No offense, but it is **so** weird to hear you talking like that with that body.”

Luna smiled thinly, “We do not speak the same way?”

“Not even close. You’re formal and polite. The kid’s only formal when he absolutely has to be.” The guard sobered and held out a hand, “You know where you are?”

Luna accepted the hand and let him help her stand, he had to catch her a moment later when the aching knee tried to shirk it’s duty supporting her weight. She stabilized and followed him out into the sitting room with a limp, “I am in Lucis, in the house of one of the higher nobility. The individual however…”

“We’ll explain in due time, but we gotta get through all the security protocols first.” _So, someone of_ ** _very_** _high nobility then. Or just someone with paranoid parents._ The man gestured for her to sit on the couch, which she accepted gratefully, this ache was going to take some getting used to, and she was … rather selfishly glad that this would only last a day at most before they met in person and ended the swap. The guard sat on the armrest of the couch, keeping a wary eye on her even though his expression was friendly —like he expected her to possibly harm her soulmate’s body with her in it even though it was her **soulmate** and that … implied things about her soulmate’s station—, “Nyx Ulric, by the way.”

“You may call me Luna,” she replied, not quite willing to give up her own status just yet.

It didn’t take long for the rest of the security to appear. A teenager with glasses entered alongside another teen and two more guards in the same uniform as Ulric, and she pegged the teens immediately as a friends of her soulmate. The first teen introduced himself as Ignis, the other teen as Gladiolus, and the two new guards as Crowe Altius and Libertus Ostium, then made tea while eyeing her in curiosity. She reiterated her permission for them to call her Luna, but she had already decided to wait until meeting her soulmate’s parents or guardians before revealing her full name and status.

She was grateful to be sitting down when the doors opened and in swept the King of Lucis, his Shield, and his Marshal, all of them pleasant to her, but wary as well.

Well.

She knew who her soulmate was now. At least there was no need to hide her identity.

Standing up once she had recovered from her shock, she sketched an instinctive curtsey to the king, “King Regis Lucis Caelum, it is an honor to meet you in person.”

King Regis dipped his chin in greeting, “Well met…”

Luna couldn’t help but smile a little as she straightened up, “Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, Your Majesty.”

The Marshal’s eyebrows shot up and the three guards exchanged wide-eyed looks. The King merely returned her smile, “Well met, Lady Lunafreya. Do you have a means to confirm your identity?”

“She does,” hummed a familiar voice that Luna had not expected to hear today and the guards spun in alarm with drawn weapons while the Shield and Marshal shielded their king before faltering. Gentiana watched it all with ageless, eerily wise brown eyes that were, for once, open, “This one will vouch for the young Oracle’s identity.”

King Regis waved them down with a look of recognition and wary respect, “High Messenger Gentiana, to what do we owe the honor of a visit?”

Gentiana’s eyes slid shut and she tipped her head almost innocently, “This one is here to witness the meeting of the Oracle with her soulmate, and to ensure that all goes smoothly with such a joyous occasion.”

“You’re here to be a busybody,” Luna retorted fearlessly, “You just wanted to see who my soulmate would be before the others could.” She had lost her awe —but not her respect— of the High Messenger and others of her kind when she was young, around the time she saw Umbra and Pryna accidentally knock Gentiana over into one of the garden pools while playing, startling all three Messengers at the time.

While the Lucians in the room all looked at her in shock for her disrespect, Gentiana just seemed amused. Turning back to King Regis, Gentiana asked, “Is there more proof that the Father requires?”

King Regis worked his jaw for a long moment, then shook his head, “Not personally. I am not one to doubt the word of a High Messenger. There are however still … other matters to be arranged and discussed.”

“Then this one will leave you to your work.” Gentiana paused, then tilted her head in Luna’s direction, “Be careful of your feet, Young Oracle.” With that cryptic warning, she disappeared into thin air, leaving a disgruntled Marshal and a baffled King of Lucis behind.

With the word of a —nosy— High Messenger, there was little else needed to confirm her identity. There were, however, a great deal of other matters to discuss while waiting for it to be a more reasonable hour of the morning to call her poor, travel-exhausted mother. Luna was nineteen to her soulmate’s fifteen, an adult in her own right for all she lived in her mother’s household still. Further, she was an Oracle, even if her duties were steadily lightening the wake of the Starscourge vaccine invented not long after she was born, and those duties would have to be taken into account when discussing any visitation or dating plans. The minutiae of those discussions would have to wait until Prince Noctis was there to contribute, but as the prince’s king and father, King Regis had every right to lay down some ground rules right away. Luna agreed to most and negotiated with a few she felt would not work well. She in turn laid down a few boundaries of her own. She would reiterate them when speaking with Prince Noctis in person, but Prince Noctis was still a minor. His father would be the one to ensure the boundaries were followed.

Around her third cup of tea and a few hours of both careful negotiation and casual conversation later, Luna wondered if things were simpler for other soulmates. If there were less formalities to be waded through before they could even broach calling her mother and informing her of her soulmate’s identity.

With everything that had gone on and the revelation of her soulmate’s identity, Luna had once again forgotten that it was very likely her own household had forgotten the date and not planned for it.

Then the cellphone of her soulmate’s Hand —one Ignis Scientia, a delightfully practical and intelligent teen she could already see herself striking up a friendship with— rang and he stepped into the kitchenette to answer it. The Prince’s Shield —Gladiolus Amicitia, who seemed to find Luna’s manner of speech coming from Prince Noctis’s mouth utterly hilarious and unnerving by turns— followed discreetly after him, likely bored with Luna’s and King Regis’s conversation.

Then Scientia all but **squawked** , “ **Noctis**? What are you doing using Prompto’s cellphone? Where **are** you? … **What do you mean** you ran away from your soulmate’s estate and security forces?”

Luna shot to her feet, gritted her teeth against the answering throb in her borrowed leg and back and followed on King Regis’s heels as they all rushed to the kitchenette to stand near Scientia. Scientia obligingly put the phone on speaker, allowing Luna to hear her own voice in mid-speech, “-just slammed open the door looking fit to murder and he had a **sword** and I panicked okay? It only occurred to me **after** I’d warped over the wall and run like- six blocks in bare feet that he might have been security or something, but by then I didn’t think I could go back without being stabbed on principle and I couldn’t be **sure** he wasn’t an assassin so I just kept going.”

Luna edged closer to the phone and couldn’t stop herself from blurting in alarm, “Barefoot?” It was the **winter solstice**. Her body could get frostbite from that, and at the very least freezing pavement would be brutal to bare feet.

There was a stunned pause, then her own voice —oh dear this was far more eerie than the stories implied— said, “Uhhh, that … that sounds like me. Am I on speakerphone, Iggy? I’m probably on speakerphone so that means you’re probably my soulmate? Hi, Soulmate. I- uh- yeah? But don’t worry! I used a potion … every two blocks I think and as soon as I got to Prom’s- um, my friend’s house I used a hi-potion just in case. Also Prom had an unopened package of socks and insisted I put on just about **all of them** to warm back up. So … no missing toes or anything. I promise.”

Luna exhaled slowly in relief and bemusement while Gladiolus openly facepalmed. King Regis looked close to mimicking the Prince’s Shield, “Noctis,” the king sighed, “just … stay there. I will send security to pick you up.”

“Yeah, sure, hey can I know who my soulmate **is** at least? Please? It’s been driving me crazy trying to figure it out because I could have sworn I’ve seen her face before.”

Luna laughed despite herself, “My name is Lunafreya Nox Fleuret. It will be a pleasure to meet you in person soon, Prince Noctis.”

Despite the other phone not being on speaker, she was certain she heard someone give an excited screeching noise that was not Prince Noctis, who actually sounded a quiet sort of dazed as he mumbled a greeting in return and then hung up. Probably already contemplating the realization that his soulmate was the youngest Oracle and that he had just run around in her body through snowy streets in bare feet where anyone might see. Luna could already see the tabloids now, but didn’t honestly care. Once she moved past the sheer risk and pain of running barefoot in snow, the fact that he had apparently done his best to mitigate any damage while also keeping both of them safe from a presumed assassin —after all, if a soulmate died while Swapped, they both did—, was endearing.

Luna stepped closer to Scientia while King Regis and his Marshal made arrangements to pick up Prince Noctis from his friend’s house, “May I borrow your cellphone, Scientia?”

Prince Noctis’s Hand blinked, then handed it over agreeably, “May I ask who you will be calling?”

“If my guess is correct, my so-called assassin.” That got her a few side-eyes from the lingering three Kingsglaive guarding her as well as Gladiolus Amicitia, and Luna smiled ruefully, “Bad tempered, slamming doors, and wearing a sword indoors sounds very much like my brother before he’s had enough coffee.” Gladiolus, Ulric, and Altius smothered a laugh of surprise while Luna carefully typed in her brother’s number and sent a text. If she called, then he would just ignore the unknown number, especially if he was busy searching for her wayward body and frazzled soulmate. So instead, she texted one of the family code words and waited. Twenty seconds later her brother’s number was calling. She answered the phone and held it away from her ear without hesitation.

“ **Lunafreya Nox Fleuret where are you**?” Her brother roared into the phone, static cracking across his words at his sheer volume. Everyone in the room stared at the cellphone with wide eyes, save for Luna, who just kept holding it away from her ear and waiting. Sure enough there was a loud —if brief— tirade about her soulmate who had apparently “kidnapped” her body and run off with it while it was “indecent” —several people blanched, then relaxed when Luna whispered that she had been fully dressed, just in silk pajamas rather than clothes for going outdoors— and that her body could be experiencing horrible things **this very second** so where was she and was she alright?

“I’m fine, Ravus,” Luna sighed when the tirade had finally wound down, “I have come to no harm. My soulmate’s family are most accommodating and proper. As for my soulmate, he just called from his friend’s house, he was under the impression that the very angry man with a sword suddenly bursting into my room was an assassin out to murder his soulmate’s body.” She let that hang pointedly between them until she sensed her brother’s rueful embarrassment, then continued, “You saw him use magic, yes? So you know who he is.”

“…I was hoping I had seen that incorrectly.” Luna raised an eyebrow at the wall, and her silence was loud enough to get her expression across to him. He sighed grudgingly, “I can’t give the Prince of Lucis a black eye for running off barefoot in your body without major political repercussions.” _And I want to do just that,_ went unspoken but heard.

Luna rolled her eyes, “He is only **fifteen** , Ravus, and he was seemingly attacked while in an unfamiliar body and location. Give him a little leeway.” There was a grudging grumble of agreement and Luna continued, “Please inform Mother that I am in the Citadel and that Prince Noctis should be here as well in the next thirty minutes.”

It took some time to gather all the required parties to meet in a nice, open sort of sitting room designed to host larger groups than Prince Noctis’s suite, but considering all the factors at play, it really wasn’t that long before her mother, brother, and soulmate had joined them. Ravus was glaring at the wall to keep from glaring at her soulmate, and her mother was already exchanging exasperated looks with King Regis like old friends. Her soulmate, still in her body and wearing her decidedly rumpled pajamas, shuffled in place as they were formally introduced, and she was amused to notice that his friend —the young blond hiding next to Scientia in the corner— had indeed forced him to wear multiple pairs of socks. There had to be at least five pairs of bright, chocobo-patterned socks on her feet right now and the sight was oddly endearing.

Her soulmate rubbed the back of his neck, “I- uh. I’m sorry about running off in your bare feet. I just-.”

“It is quite alright, Prince Noctis, you were in a new place and my brother **is** quite intimidating when you first meet him. I trust that my body has suffered no permanent damage, so there is nothing to be upset about.”

He blinked at her, lips twitching in a disbelieving sort of smile, “I- thanks. And no offense but it is **so weird** to hear that coming from, well, **me**.”

Luna held out her hands, “I could say the same. Perhaps we should fix that?”

Prince Noctis laughed a little breathlessly, his magic already brushing her senses in a heady mix of _embarrassment-relief-joy_ as he took her hands in his and the world blurred. Luna inhaled sharply as she came back to **herself** , her body, her voice, her sense of balance. A few blinks while Ulric kindly kept her stable and standing and the world was right again, the magic of the Swap having ended now that its work was done and they had met and physically touched. She barely noticed the ache in her feet from all of her soulmate’s running around, it was nothing compared to what her soulmate experienced as a norm, and since their hands were still grasping each other, she sent another pulse of healing magic through his body.

Prince Noctis shook his head to clear it, his Shield holding him stable. She saw him wince and shift his posture to something far less straight that probably put less painful weight on his hip, then looked up and smiled shyly at her, “That’s … that’s way better.” He blinked, then stared at their connected hands, “Are you … I don’t … are you doing that?”

“A little bit,” she admitted calmly, “does it help?”

He laughed breathlessly, “A lot, yeah. Um, nice to meet you … properly I guess? I mean I know we just met but-.” He blushed and quieted, then murmured, “I swear I’m not usually this much of a rambling idiot.”

Lunafreya giggled and squeezed his fingers, “Prince Noctis,” she waited until he finally looked up and met her gaze before smiling, letting her magic press her _happiness-relief-excitement_ against his skin to show that inside she was just as giddy as Noctis, “it is a pleasure to meet you properly.”

Somewhere behind her head, she heard Ulric whisper to one of the other Kingsglaive, “Two minutes in and they’re already being freaking adorable. We’re doomed.” Prince Noctis and Luna exchanged looks, having both heard the whisper, and a moment later burst out laughing.

This was definitely not how she had expected to meet her soulmate, but honestly, Luna didn’t think she would have had it any other way.


End file.
